My thesis focus is on structured notes and portfolio management—the topics I developed an interest in even before enrolling in ICEF and which have kept me interested throughout these four years. I started to explore them academically as my coursework topics in the end of year one, and I then used the opportunity to go on and incorporate them in my thesis as a highlight topic, thus keeping myself keenly involved and looking to benefit some of the products that I and my colleagues are working on in the workplace.
In addition to the numerous extracurricular resources, research publications and contributions from practicing experts that I used as sources, my graduation thesis was for the most part contributed by my experience with structured products. It was that something that allowed my research to go beyond the usual framework of a bachelor’s thesis and into a more practical domain.
I was very lucky to have the supervisor (Editor’s note: Veronika Chistotinova) that I had. Our sharing of common research interests and having similar professional experience has enabled quite a productive interaction through frequent discussions, exchange of ideas and high level of mutual understanding. And given that my supervisor is in structured products, too, our cooperation appeared most intense during writing the case studies part.
Looking back, I see that I was able to merge those seemingly small models, ideas and observations into a solid piece of work. One of my biggest takeaways from that work is “everything counts in large amounts.” Even a minor detail or idea is worth taking note of and working on.
It was largely thanks to my supervisor at ICEF that my thesis writing proved one of the most exciting experiences for me. I really hope she enjoyed working with me as much as I enjoyed working with her. And if ICEF had an Oscar award to celebrate its best student research supervisors, this year’s one would definitely go to her.
Since I was totally keen on the topic and didn’t have even the slightest bit of thought I might forget something or fail to answer a relevant question, I found it unnecessary to revise and reread my thesis for defense. Besides, I was able to use my experience of presenting to clients and colleagues at the workplace and thus avoid negative thoughts and embarrassment when quizzed by the committee. Instead, I pretended I was presenting to the people that I’d dealt with many times before.
My preparation basically came down to “exercising” my thesis defense in the office. I asked my colleagues and my managers to act as my committee by deliberating about my research and asking tricky questions. This, indeed, had proved the most productive part of preparation – the very opportunity to have my research study examined by those with experience much wider than my own did benefit my paper. It proved a useful test and gave me future directions for research. It even inspired me to go further than the customary bachelor’s thesis and start a larger research project, which, if successful, might be of use to “masters” of derivatives and structured products. That’s the line of study I’m planning to continue, but mostly on my own now.
One thing that I think proved to be key for my success was the resumption of in-person defenses here in the campus in Pokrovka, the latter having become my beloved second home. I know it from the experience of my classmates how difficult the defense can be when you don’t have the in-person interaction with your committee. It's no secret that the thing they assess in the first place is precisely the ability to tell about your research and to “sell” it, which seems to be much easier to demonstrate while presenting in a familiar setting than in Zoom. This I think has been crucial to my thesis defense.
My plan for now is to keep my career moving forward by challenging myself in new roles. As I learned from my experience of alternating many challenging working weeks with Saturday classes in my third and fourth year, it is through this work/study combination that the quality knowledge of finance comes from. Just as many of the curious, and yet too far-fetched, scientific studies cannot do without the elegant simplicity of practical approaches, too much of a practical focus can make the industry blind to the disruptive ideas that get generated by the academia. My plan is simple – to continue trying to combine both through never-ceasing attempt to cram a thousand things into one day.
